n the pipeline in Titusville, Pennsylvania lined the bore holes to allow deeper drilling in the mid-19th century (https://www.bbc.com/timelines/zqgxtfr), a brand-new industry began. It came at a time when emerging technology created new products from oil. The first commercially viable oil well Titusville, as well as the high demand for kerosene, triggered an oil rush in a global scale.

Today, oil and gas are used widely in modern life. Oil fuels the cars, trucks and planes that support modern economies and lifestyles. By-products from oil refining are used in producing plastics and chemicals. Nearly all pesticides and many fertilisers are made from oil or oil by-products. Gas provides electricity and is also used for cooking, heating and fuelling numerous industrial operations. There is no doubt that oil and gas are the cornerstones of modern society.

However, with the diminishing number of conventional reservoirs and increasing concern of the rising global temperature, scientists started wondering if oil and gas will remain our primary energy resource in 30 years. In this essay, we are going to examine the amount of remaining oil and gas reservoirs, unconventional production methods and their costs, as well as current renewables’ situations and costs.

Conventional or unconventional

Oil and gas typically began with a mixture of fine sediments such as silt and clay, combined with organic remains of aquatic microorganisms called plankton. This organic mud can accumulate across wide areas offshore or on lake bottom where plankton is abundant. If the organic mud is covered by another type of rock, it turns to organic shale overtime. When organic shales are deeply buried underground and exposed to the increasing levels of Earth’s heat, organic matters begin to convert to oil an